Tudor conquest of Ireland

The Tudor conquest of Ireland occurred from 1529 to 1603 when the Tudor monarchy of England embarked on a campaign of conquest against Gaelic Ireland during the mid- to late-16th century. The conquest resulted in the complete subjugation of Ireland, the abolition of the Lordship of Ireland and the King of England's assumption of the title "King of Ireland", the hegemony of the Anglo-Irish, and the outlawing of the Catholic Church in Ireland and the establishment of the Anglican/Protestant Church of Ireland.

Background
Ireland had been "English" since the 12th century, in that hte Norman lords of England also ruled Ireland. England's emergence as one of medieval europe's pre-eminent powers had left Ireland the subordinate.

England's hold weakened as its aristocratic rivalries spiralled into war. The problem to begin with was not the Gaelic Irish but with the Hiberno-Normans and "Old English". They had arrived in the first colonizing wave but had "gone native" in teh centuries since, adopting Gaelic dress, language, and customs. Like the Gaelic Irish, moreover, they were faithful to Catholicism, so the English Reformation drove a further wedge between the two countries.

History
Ireland's Hiberno-Norman families resented the Tudor monarchs' attempts to regularize land-use and taxation. The Gaelic chieftains became emboldened and Ireland "beyond the Pale" (the areas outside the well-settled and defended area around Dublin) grew increasingly restive and wayward. From 1541, King Henry VIII and his Chief Minister Thomas Cromwell tried to Anglicize the authority of the Gaelic chiefs through the policy of "Surrender and Regrant". Each chief would surrender his authority and be regranted an English aristocratic title in its place. Up to a point, it worked. Conn O'Neill in Ulster accepted the title of Earl of Tyrone, for instance. But somehow, the "regrant" part seemed more appealing than the "surrender".

Plantation of Munster
In 1569, the Desmond rebellions flared up in County Cork. Quelled in 1573, they erupted again six years later. They were suppressed and the southwest pacified by the Plantation of Munster. New English settlers were planted there to domesticate and (as the English saw it) civilize the place. In 1593, Conn's successor Hugh O'Neill and allies including Hugh Roe O'Donnell of County Donegal rebelled against Elizabeth. The Nine Years' War that followed pitted the English against lightly armed Irish kerns and more heavily equipped Scottish "redshank" mercenaries too.

Irish ascendancy
The rebels wont eh early rounds at Clontibret (1595) and Yellow Ford (1598). In 1599, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, the Earl of Essex arrived in Ireland with almost 20,000 troops, only to be defeated by O'Donnell at Curlew Pass. Having agreed a truce, Essex was recalled by a furious Queen Elizabeth. He tried to topple his former protector from power in 1601. Failing in his coup, he was tried and executed.

English attrition
His successors fought more effectively, gradually wearing down resistance. By 1600, O'Neill and his rebels were exhausted. The arrival of a Spanish army in 1601 appeared to offer a last-minute respite, but the newcomers were cornered after landing at Kinsale. The Irish surrounded the army of Essex's successor, Baron Mountjoy, only to be outmaneuvered at the Battle of Kinsale. The Spanish withdrew; the rebellion was quashed. In 1607, the defeated O'Donnell and O'Neill led the "Flight of the Earls" leaving for the Catholic countries of Europe.

Colonization of Ulster
The north of Ireland had been left relatively untouched by Old English settlement. The population was unsettled with communities of herders and the least tractable chiefs. Around 1610, a programme of plantation (or colonization) was launched. Lands were granted to English and Scottish landowners, who brought tenants from their estates to settle the country. Towns were established to provide administration and promote commerce. The City of London guilds were pressured to send tradesmen and their families. They were given lands to develop around Derry, which was renamed Londonderry.

Separate lives
The Gaelic population, rather than being expelled, moved to the margins, remaining there in poverty and helplessness. The "civilizing" mission never got beyond a policing role, as Protestant settlers and the Catholic populace lived parallel lives. England was storing up trouble for the future.

Aftermath
Oppression bred reblelion in a rancorous, self-perpetuating cycle, which was to shape the unhappy history of Ireland for centuries. The entrenchment of religious differences made the Irish seem even more alien to the Protestant English. Oliver Cromwell rejoiced in their destruction and drove them from ancestral lands. Religious considereations ensured that the Irish backed the "wrong" side in the wars which followed William III's accession to the throne of England in the Glorious Revolution. At the end of the 18th century, Protestants and Catholics made common cause as United Irishmen, attempting a French revolution in Ireland. The revolution failed, but did enough to persuade some in England that those who starved in the Great Famine of the 1840s were getting no more than they deserved. The Home Rule movement of the late-19th century won sympathy - but little more.